—Public Domain Photos Courtesy of Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
VIRUS 19
—Michael H. Brownstein, Jefferson City, MO
There is no element of surprise with a quarantine,
No understudy to take your place,
Masks and eye protection have been ordered.
They lay in cartons on warehouse shelves,
They have been here for months—perhaps years.
In Puerto Rico, I.V. bags caught the great gusts of wind,
Tore holes through walls and forest,
Let the hurricane tumble everything into a mass of mess.
One hurricane, one response,
Suddenly the world was minus needed medical equipment.
Leadership leads.
They do not go home on an early recess.
They do not haggle over ins and outs.
They put on a mask, gloves, eye wear—
Enter the zone of terror and lead.
I’m waiting.
___________________
THE SEASONS OF VITAMINS
—Michael H. Brownstein
wintershine
someshine
springshine
sunniershine
sunniershine
too much shine
autumnshine
sunshine
____________________
FINDING AN INSIDE/OUT
—Michael H. Brownstein
the poetics of Jung
swung
aesthetics/synthetics
the weight of process
redress
state/trait
a dream, a breakthrough
glue
dream/stream
and that is it
wit
splat/chat
SHELTERED
—Sue Crisp, Shingle Springs, CA
Shelter comes in many a form,
a place to keep us safe and warm.
For some, perhaps a cave or den,
a space to spend spring, summer and winter in.
A barn for comfort as the seasons unfold.
A blessing for animals, young and old.
Squirrel nestles in her oak tree dray.
The space for her and new babies to stay.
For some, a tent is their chosen home,
a moveable shelter when they decide to roam.
There are those of us who chose to shelter in a permanent space,
a place to call our home base.
Be it house, yurt, cabin or RV,
your shelter is what you choose it to be.
Shelter is shelter, temporary or permanent,
whether a cave, dray, barn, house, whatever makes you content.
—Public Domain Artwork Courtesy of Sue Crisp
ISOLATION AS A SOLUTION
—Joseph Nolan
These eyelids,
These lips,
These things
I have to let slip,
These things that drift away!
Many a cruise
Has been rued,
Since—yesterday—!
We might live in desperation
For months, for weeks or for days,
As we watch our lives and ambitions
Slowly slip away
Into idle-isolation
From each other,
Though we might pray
For a better social-solution
Than to simply
Go away!
Yes, that's a colt!
THE MADONNA AND HER SUPPLICANT
—Joseph Nolan
The Madonna
Sighs
And leans her head
Sideways.
She lets her glance
Slip along
The outer lip
Of the corner
Of her eye,
Expecting you to notice
The meaning of the
Trance
In which
You are submerged.
However,
Without a single word,
Madonna lets you know
What you should know
Then
Lets you go!
__________________
MAHASAMADHI
—Joseph Nolan
All the accumulated jnana
All the gnosis
All the kundalini shakti
All the brilliance of experience
Of sat-chit-ananda,
All rose up at once,
Through the sushumna nadi
And popped
Through the top
Of the sahasrara chakra
Into infinity
And liberation was thereby won!
Forever, One!
CORONA VIRUS VS. CORONA BEER
—Joseph Nolan
Oh! Please!
Leave me alone
And allow me
A place to sneeze!
Oh my!
I don’t know why
Libertines
Might freeze their balls
In salted-margaritas.
It must be
Personal taste,
The way some people
Let things go to waste,
Like Earnest Hemingway,
Before he blew his brains out!
And now we have a
Corona virus.
Not to be confused
With Corona beer,
Spiced-up with a
Squeezed, slice-of-lime!
__________________
DEEPER INTIMACY
—Joseph Nolan
Intimacy,
Grown deeper,
Listens for quieter
Rhythms of the heart.
Its stops and starts,
Its little quivers—
A held breath,
How it deals with death
When death comes near.
The way it
Holds its fear
And shows its longing.
Deeper, and draws near
And even nearer.
Its currents, quieter,
Running in the space
Between the wake
Of larger, stronger vessels
That beat their ways
Through waters
Far from shore.
Sparing effort,
The better to
Go farther
Behind the breaker,
Sharing speed,
Feeling need,
Feeding back
Through
Brackish water.
Is There a Pecking Order Here?
THE GREAT MYTH
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
We were led to believe that
Law & Order
was a most worthy goal
to deter crime on the whole
and to rate high in the poll
big money, huge effort, for
building prisons
to house all those convicts
make use of the deep six
scare all those derelicts
such facilities now packed
over limit
goodbye proof, guilt by assumption
crime through the roof, no redemption
wrong suspect goof, false execution
we bought the idea
lock, stock, barrel
that using more force
would alter the course
and nip crime at the source
a waiting list, miles past
around the block
of felons eager to serve their time
get free benefits on our dime
learn from masters about the career of crime
Oh what a nice belief, that
Law & Order
would be the best solution
build a new institution
another wrong-suspect execution
____________________
HARDBALL
—Caschwa
he took the name
of a favorite sport
and made it his game
in his very own court
overfilled the cuspidor
with remnants of tobacco
chewed and spit those interviewed
as if they, not he, were whacko
his message had gotten way off track
like when a vinyl record warps
we searched and found a championship bier
upon which to place his corpse
he’s still alive and roams the halls
honing barbs till they’re razor thin
but being held to account like anyone else
was a contest he just couldn’t win
PEOPLE
—Caschwa
one
person
together
with another
circle grows larger
till it becomes thirteen
colonies, then fifty states
president, commander in chief
with a background in real estate sales
wanting to brand all the tallest structures
throws out expert advisers to save money
roller coaster market crashes, bad through and through
one
person
infected
undetected
coronavirus
horns of a dilemma
neither outcome is welcome
so settle your affairs
final arrangements
peaceful slumber
that’s the cure
back to
one
___________________
AT WAR
—Caschwa
oleander, oleander
claims all the blooming garden
cutting doesn’t stifle it
just lets our feelings harden
every part of it is toxic
it grows and never tires
the only resolution is
the hottest of all fires
we tried to use impeachment
our garden to defend
but that negotiation
failed to bring weeds to an end
it looks real bad, but there is hope
we’ll have a new direction
this November get out and vote
in our most important Election
____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
TODAY
—Joseph Nolan
Today,
I feel joy
Bubbling
Inside my heart
And mind!
It seems there’s little room
To carry
Sadness, guilt and pain.
It seems I should leave
Those things behind
To be playthings of
Another day,
Maybe when it rains,
But today
The sun is shining.
_____________________
Another eclectic Monday in the Kitchen, as contributors send us fine poems and photos, some about remaining “One” while we’re split into “ones”. As for poetry events, it seems like they’re all cancelled in our area. And even if they aren’t cancelled, we’re not supposed to go to them...
An exception is this Friday’s Virtual Open Mic #2, sponsored by Nomadic Press from 6-7:30pm: 90 minutes/30 readers/3 min. each. Join by phone or computer. Info/sign-ups: www.facebook.com/events/206089637135499/?notif_t=plan_user_invited¬if_id=1584763210924531/.
Meanwhile, keep writing! Medusa submissions are up, as poets take to their pens and computers to express their distress about this whole dilemma, but that doesn’t mean the snakezzz of Medusa aren’t hungry. Their need for poems is, indeed, an on-going thing…
_____________________
—Medusa, hunkered down and waiting for the tsunami to pass...
It’s not that we can’t do things outside,
just not with each other. Go fishing!
Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the X
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.
